


Jealousy

by haissitall



Category: Half-Life
Genre: F/M, implied Judith/Eli, kinda implied one-sided Breen/Judith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24391558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haissitall/pseuds/haissitall
Summary: Breen feels he'd rather Judith stopped talking about Eli and started talking about him.
Kudos: 11





	Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Jealousy / Ревность](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/625240) by Haissitall. 



> i be like: see the lack of fics about Judith and Breen, ask "is anyone gonna fill this niche?" and not wait for an answer

Judith denied everything but he couldn't stop hearing it — not as a good psychologist or an empath, but as an old predator sensing a weakness: her feelings for Eli, which couldn't be called love (she'd grown out of these sort of things) but could be called respect, and attachement, and tenderness. They were in each of her words about him, and they could be heard even with bad connection, all of these restrained and cautious words.

Now, when she is in the same room with him, it becomes painfully obvious. When he can properly see her face expressions and body language, her affection for Eli is unbearable. Judith asks when Wallace will talk to him, and he answers sinserely that it doesn't matter. She starts talking about something, out of which he can only hear those annoying clinking epithets. "Irreplaceable" is one of the main ones. She adds that he is irreplacable for the project, for the research, but everything is crystal clear anyway. Eli is irreplaceable for her.

He wants to coldly laugh at this but something makes him say: "I'd like to hear your opinion about the portal from Nova Prospect. After all, I engineered it."

Judith is distracted from her speach and looks up at him.

"I tried to predict your ideas so that they would be compatable later. I'm glad I succeded — it's not entirely my area of expertise, although I managed to study it a little in twenty years time."

He appears to show off to her. Probably it's because he hasn't been in the same room with normal humans for who knows how many years, he reasons. And here's someone with eyes, with a face, with a lively voice. Even hair. Who wouldn't want to show off in this situation?

"The pulse-forming network is interesting, albeit a bit impractical," Judith points out coldly, "In any case, I'm sorry to hear it was destroyed."

"For the next model, I will give up the title of chief engineer to you."

If she says something with the word "Eli" in it, he will order to kill her.

No, of course, he understands that Eli is charming. That his quiet, kind determination is attractive and that everyone flies towards its' warm light, enchanted. Eli can lure anyone with plush, diluted and chewed values, and be relatable and firm in a conversation. Wallace knows all this. And that his sad story of a widower and a single father seems to be attractive for women over forty. Can you imagine: a romantic leader of resistance with a conveniently tragic backstory. Wallace understand all this and he absolutley doesn't care that Judith has fallen into this obvious trap.

Judith with her hair, lively voice, face and eyes. Maybe he will actually miss human traits, when they will be completely erased, wiped off the surface of the universe. When there will be no red hair, no confident voice, no pale face and no green eyes.

"If you listened to me, Dr Breen, you know who is the only one capable of being our chief engineer," she answers stricktly.

Ah yes. The irreplaceable Eli. And he bets Eli's portals charge faster and recharge instantly, unlike Wallace's, taking it's time gathering energy after the use.

No, wait, there was something suggestive in this thought. He says, rolling his eyes: 

"We will talk about this later," even though he really doesn't want to talk about it. At all.


End file.
